24 Mar 2017

Assessment of damage to West Papua reef grim

9:46 am on 24 March 2017

Indonesia's government has completed its assessment of the damage caused by a cruise ship to a coral reef system in West Papua earlier this month.

The Caledonian Sky in Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia.

The Caledonian Sky in Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Tabloid Jubi/ Hugo Matteson- Facebook

Assessment was carried out by teams from the government and the insurance company for the British-owned Caledonian Sky, which ran aground on coral reefs in West Papua's famous Raja Ampat archipelago.

The Jakarta Post quotes Indonesia's deputy for maritime sovereignty at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, Arif Havas Oegroseno.

He said the two teams concluded the ship damaged 18,882 square metres.

The damaged area has been divided into two categories: over two-thirds was "heavily damaged" while the rest suffered "medium damage".

But Mr Havas said even the reefs damaged to a medium extent had only a 50 percent chance of survival.

Within weeks, the teams are to conduct a follow-up analysis, which will include the economic calculation of the total losses by personnel from the Environment and Forestry Ministry.